Monday, 27 April 2015

battle at governolo

According to the tradition, the frazione of Governolo was the seat of the meeting between Pope Leo I and Attila in 452. Also in Governolo the condottieroGiovanni dalle Bande Nerewas shot by a cannonball in 1526, later dying out of the wounds received.Giovanni was born in the Northern Italian town ofForlìtoGiovanni de' Medici(also known asil Popolano) andCaterina Sforza, one of the most famous women of theItalian Renaissance.

From an early age, he demonstrated great interest and ability in physical activity, especially the martial arts of the age: horse riding, sword-fighting, etc. He committed his first murder at the age of 12, and was twice banished from the city ofFlorencefor his unruly behavior, including involvement in the rape of a sixteen-year-old boy, Giovanni being about thirteen at the time.He had a son,Cosimo(1519–1574), who went on to become Grand Duke of Florence.

As a symbol of mourning for the death of Pope Leo X (December 1, 1521), Giovanni added black stripes to hisinsignia, whence comes his nickname, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (or Giovanni of the Black Bands). In August 1523 he was hired by theImperialarmy, and in January 1524 he defeated the French and the Swiss atCaprino Bergamasco. In the same year another Medici, Giulio di Giuliano, became Pope, and took the name ofClement VII. The new Pope paid all of Giovanni's debt, but in exchange ordered him to switch to the French side of the ongoing conflict. He did not take part in thebattle of Pavia, but was soon severely wounded in a skirmish and later had to move toVeniceto recuperate from his wounds.Giovanni became acondottiero, or mercenary military captain, in the employ ofPope Leo X(Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) and on March 5, 1516 ledthe waragainstFrancesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. He thenceforth formed a company of his own, mounted on light horses and specializing in fast but devastating skirmishing tactics and ambushes. In 1520 he defeated several rebel barons in theMarche. The following year Leo X allied with Emperor Charles Vagainst KingFrancis I of Franceto regain Milan,ParmaandPiacenza; Giovanni was called in under the command ofProspero Colonna, defeating the French atVaprio d'Addain November.

In 1526 the War of the League of Cognac broke out. The League's captain general, Francesco Maria I della Rovere, abandoned Milan in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Imperial army led byGeorg von Frundsberg. Giovanni was able to defeat theLandsknechtsrearguard at the confluence of theMinciowith thePo River.

On the evening of November 25 he was hit by a shot from afalconetin a battle nearGovernolo.According to a contemporary accountby Luigi Guicciardini, the ball shattered his right leg above the kneeand he had to be carried to San Nicolò Po, nearBagnolo San Vito, where no doctor could be found. He was taken toAloisio Gonzaga's palace, marquis ofCastel Goffredo, inMantua, where the surgeon Abramo, who had cared for him two years earlier, amputated his leg. To perform the operation Abramo asked for 10 men to hold down the strickencondottiero.

Pietro Aretino, eyewitness to the event, recalled in a letter to Francesco Albizi:

'Not even twenty' Giovanni said smiling 'could hold me', and he took a candle in his hand, so that he could make light onto himself, I ran away, and shutting my ears I heard only two voices, and then calling, and when I reached him he told me: 'I am healed', and turning all around he greatly rejoiced.

Despite the surgery Giovanni de' Medici died five days later, supposedly of septicemia, on 30 November 1526.

Giovanni's body was exhumed in 2012 along with that of his wife to preserve the remains, which were damaged in the 1966 flood of the Arno river, and to ascertain the cause of his death.

Preliminary investigation revealed that his leg was amputated below the knee. No damage was found to the thigh, where the shot supposedly hit. The tibia and fibula, the bones of the lower leg, were found sawed off from the amputation. There was no damage to the femur.

It is now thought that de' Medici may have died of gangrene.

Giovanni's premature deathmetaphoricallysignaled the end of the age of thecondottieri, as their mode of fighting (which emphasized armored knights on horseback) was rendered practically obsolete by the introduction of the mobile fieldcannon. He is therefore known as the last of the great Italiancondottieri. His lasting reputation has been kept alive in part thanks toPietro Aretino, the Renaissance author, satirist, playwright and "scourge of the princes", who was Giovanni's close friend and accompanied him on some of his exploits.